Except for a week in July, when Joe went up to the boat on a fix-it expedition, HIPPOKAMPOS has been resting peacefully in her slip at South Port Marine near Portland, Maine. The marina, located just across the Casco Bay Bridge from Portland’s historic Old Port district, describes itself as “the most protected dockage on Casco Bay”. This made us feel somewhat comfortable since we were new to the waters and weather of Maine, and new to the boat… Read More
Tracks: Casco Bay, Maine
Date: August, 2016
Distance: 113.3 nautical miles (combined tracks)
Engine Hours: 20.8 (total hours)
To view specific legs of this cruise click the links below:
Cliff Island | Yarmouth | Eagle island | Clapboard Island | Little Diamond Island | Chandler’s Cove
Fears were instilled in us about heavy fog as thick as pea soup, rainy days that never end, rocky shores that’ll sink your boat, and lobster pots that you can use as stepping stones to walk across the bay. Being a dry summer eliminated the first couple of concerns, and keeping the charts handy and a sharp lookout for floats had us navigating without worry.
We began the month by carefully learning boat operations and getting familiar with the marina facilities (fuel dock, pump-out, laundry, etc.) and also finding the neighborhood stores for provisioning. After the first week of island-hopping we were ready to take a break from the water and took a road trip to Rockland for the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors show. We don’t know about the homes since we never got into that, but seeing the down east boats was outstanding.
Besides the incredible sans-heat humid-free weather, and the pleasures of being a temporary resident in the quaint town of South Portland, the highlight of the month was when we had family and friends come to visit us. We had been out numerous times doing round-the-island cruises but the most memorable was our cruise to Eagle Island, home of explorer Admiral Robert E Peary. We picked up a mooring at the end of the pier at Eagle Island, expecting to launch the dinghy to take us ashore, but instead a park ranger came out with his boat to give us a ride in. Talk about door-to-door service! We had a great tour of the house and grounds that were well kept by the state. Of course no trip to Portland would be complete without a tour of Portland Head Light and the fish market restaurants in the city of Portland.
After our visitors left we planned an overnight cruise to Yarmouth that included a stay at the Yankee Marina. Going up the Royal River was exciting as we weaved-and-waved around the buoys to keep in the narrow channel. We were greeted by a friendly harbor-master and met another pilothouse trawler owner who gave us a tour of his Lord Nelson Victory tug. Later we had a fantastic dinner at the Royal River Grill which was surprisingly packed for being what seemed to be a rather remote location.
Our original concerns of how we were going to amuse ourselves for a full month while living on the boat in Maine didn’t prove true and before we knew it August 31st was here and we were in our car back to Kentucky, home of the hot and humid.
